DRINKS.
305
opponents
declared
it
to
be
like
wine,
of
an
inebriating
nature
—
indeed,
a
sort
of
wine
itself;
and
went
so
far,
in
the
heat
of
argument,
as
to
say
that
all
who
drank
it
would
appear
at
the
general
resurrection
with
faces
blacker
than
the
bottoms
of
their
coffee-pots.
An
insult
of
this
sort
was
surely
sufficient
to
justify
a
prompt
adoption
of
the
severest
rejoinder
by
the
other
side,
and,
in
replying,
they
became
poetic.
Said
one
:
—
'*
It
is
a
dear
object
of
desire
to
the
collector
of
knowledge
;
It
is
the
drink
of
the
people
of
God,
and
in
it
is
health.
It's
odour
is
Musk,
it's
colour
Ink
:
The
wise
man
and
the
good
will
sip
it
pure
as
milk
in
its
innocence.
And
differing
from
it
but
in
blackness."
And
another
sang
"
Courtesy
is
the
coat
of
the
customers
in
a
Coffee-house.
The
Coffee-house
itself
is
as
Paradise
in
its
carpets,
its
com-
pany
and
its
tender
delights.
When
the
waiter
comes
with
the
Coffee
in
its
cup
of
porce-
lain,
sorrow
disappears,
and
all
anguish
sinks
under
its
dominion.
In
its
water
we
wash
away
our
impurities,
and
burn
out
our
solicitudes
in
its
fire.
The
man
who
has
looked
only
on
its
chafing
dish
will
say,
*
Fie
upon
the
Wine
and
the
Wine
Vats.*
Coffee
won
the
day.
There
is,
however,
another
story
of
its
introduction
—
how
in
the
far-off
past
a
poor
dervish,
who
lived
in
the
deserts
of
Arabia,
noticed
that
his
goats
came
home
every
evening
in
a
state
of
hilarity.
Unable
to
account
for
this,
he
watched
them,
and
found
them
u